Tails' Sick Day
by WriterChloeEliz
Summary: Oneshot: After overworking himself too much, Tails gets sick with a fever. And Sonic teaches him that the only person he needs to be good enough for is himself.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sonic the Hedgehog nor do I claim to. All rights to characters and their development go to SEGA and the Sonic team. The only thing I own is the plot of this story, nothing more.

**Quick (Important) Note:** I am an American author, therefore any temperature will be displayed as Fahrenheit. The celsius conversion will be in parentheses for anyone who uses the metric system for more convenient reading. I hope you enjoy the story!

**Tails**

He cringed at the bright sun which was beating down on his back. The humidity clung to his fur, and as soon as he opened the door, a rush of heat had hit him, giving him a deep sense of ennui, a feeling that still remained. But he believed it was just from overworking himself, so he wasn't worried. Eggman had been attacking left and right lately, and he had been pushing himself to work a lot faster on an invention for an upcoming plan the group had created- they were all counting on him to get it done!

However, it wasn't working out very well. Every waking moment had gone into this when he wasn't fighting Eggman alongside the others. It was the one thing they were waiting on to get this plan in action. And although nobody was impatient with him, they all understood that what they were asking was going to take a bit of time, but he was terrified of disappointing them.

He didn't create inventions fast, if it was a small project, sure. Like the communicators, the group now bared had only taken about a week or so. So, it was going to take some time to get the plan in action. Everyone involved knew that. But Tails still overworked himself nonetheless.

He figured that was where the headache came from, overworking. The tedium of the project was almost enough to kill him. He also saw no other reason for his pain than this stupid little thing. So, he ignored it and continued walking even though his legs were throbbing.

He continued to trudge through the forest, trying to carry himself in a somewhat confident manner, but it wasn't working. He sighed, struggling to breathe the hot and sticky air. But he was stubborn, which was what eventually got him out of bed that morning.

Despite the weather being awful, Tails didn't have the energy to fly to Amy's house for a team meeting. Just thinking about the walk was enough to tire him out. Sighing once more, he hugged himself while walking feeling slightly cold. The more logical side of him would usually question why he was cold when it was 90 degrees. (30) But again, he wasn't thinking with his head at the moment. So he ignored the obvious and quite concerning fact, as he continued his walk down the unmade path.

The river he traveled by glistened in the sunlight and Tails shook from a chill, taking a shaky breath he again ignored the tightness in his chest.

_Just focus on getting to Amy's._

He kept walking, ignoring the leaves rustling and the soft wind blowing the sticky air around. He stopped for a minute to cough several times. And when he stopped walking, he kept going without giving it a second thought. Just breathing took effort, and he was so uncomfortable that he was almost in tears. There was nothing more he wanted than to do than go home and sleep. But he shook the thought out of his head. He had to get to Amy's. He couldn't bail on the meeting just because he was a little sore. Tails walked on, and after what felt like an eternity later, he made it.

He sighed a breath of relief and knocked at the door though it might have been unnecessary, he did it anyway. The last thing he wanted to do was walk in at the wrong time. Amy opened the door and smiled. Like when he left his own house, he could feel the cold air rush out the door, like steam coming out of an uncovered pot.

"Oh, Tails! You're here! Come in!" Tails nodded, grateful to get out of the heat. Though it didn't seem to take away his pain, it was a little easier to breathe despite his chest still hurting.

"Thanks, Amy." He started to walk into her house as she shut the door behind him. "Is anyone else here yet?" He timidly asked. Hopefully, he didn't arrive too late because of the times he had to stop.

Amy nodded. "Everyone else is here, but Sonic left to grab a couple of maps like- a minute ago." Amy rolled her eyes playfully. "Knuckles and Rouge have been at it all morning. They're an old married couple! Well, practically." Tails lightly chuckled, but even that hurt. Knuckles' voice came from behind them, and they turned around.

"I heard that!" Tails and Amy turned towards Knuckles who was standing behind them. He glared at the two. Tails coughed a couple of times, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"Oh, hey, Knuckles. Good to see you finally left Rouge alone," Amy teased. Knuckles let out a small growl. Then rolled his eyes mumbling something under his breath as Shadow appeared. The group earned a raised eyebrow before he pushed it aside and took off to the wall and leaned against it. Crossing his arms, he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"You guys are way too carefree for what this meetings about," he grumbled.

"Aw, come on, Shadow. Lighten up, the plans pretty much done we're just waiting on Tails."

Tails went rigid, and a ping shot through his chest.

"We still need to be careful. We're taking on a whole new line of robots we know little about, I doubt Tails' machine is going to be enough." Shadow opened his eyes still looking at the floor. "Not even close."

You're letting them all down you should have worked harder!

Amy walked over to Tails placing a hand on his shoulder. "You say that like you doubt his abilities." She and Shadow made eye contact, and he shut his eyes again.

"I didn't mean it like that. It's just that no matter how skilled Tails is, we can't place all our eggs in one basket. We have to be prepared in case something goes wrong."

Amy rolled her eyes. "With all the people working on this mission. I'm sure nothing will."

"Realistically, the more people, the more chances of someone screwing up."

Amy grumbled something under her breath just as Sonic burst through the door.

"I got the maps! Happy now, Ames?"

"Peachy!" she snapped. Sonic raised an eyebrow and gave her a confused look as she walked past him. Tails heard Rouge say something as she walked into the room, but he ignored it. He took a few deep breaths as his vision started to gather white spots. Almost feeling himself fall, a conversation started to take place without him.

He shut his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he was still dizzy. His chest tightened more and more like someone was tying a rope around it. He coughed, and heads turned towards him. The next thing he knew- everything was black.

**Sonic**

He handed the money to the cashier, who had given him a 50% discount on the already cheap maps- perks of being a hero. Waving goodbye, he zipped out of the small compartment store, annoyed that he had to go there in the first place.

Although he was fast, the cobalt hero still felt the sun beating down on his back. Amy's house came into view in a few mere seconds. He opened the door to a seemingly tense atmosphere, but he paid little to no attention to it.

"I got the maps! Happy now, Ames?"

"Peachy!" she snapped. Sonic tried to ask what happened, but Amy just walked away fuming.

"Don't mind her, Sonic. She's just mad Shadow proved her wrong," Rouge said shrugging.

"I am not!" Amy countered. Sonic chuckled placing the maps on the counter.

"I leave for two minutes, and I come back to this? Did anything else happen while I was gone?" he joked.

"Tails just got here-" Everyone's heads turned to said fox as he started coughing violently. Then, in a matter of seconds, he was falling. Sonic rushed over to him and caught him. Lowering him to the ground, be placed a hand to the kit's forehead.

"Crap," he mumbled. "He's burning up." Picking him back up, he glanced back up at the concerned faces of his friends. "I'm gonna get him home, carry on without us." Amy nodded, and Rouge said something Sonic subconsciously decided was along the lines of an okay, and Knuckles wished them well.

"Are you coming back, Sonic?" Amy asked. Sonic paused, unsure of his answer.

"Don't." Sonic turned his head to Shadow, who was now making eye contact with the fellow speedster. He looked back down to the floor. "He's gonna need you to stay with him." Sonic nodded.

"Thanks, Shads." He smirked as he opened the door. Running out, he heard Shadow protest the nickname. But he ignored it, now letting full worry settle into his mind.

He pushed the door open then shut the door behind him. He went upstairs to Tails' room comfortingly tracing circles on the back of his ear. Opening the door, he pulled back the covers blue covers of his bed. He then set Tails down and covered him up.

He sighed, stroking his forehead, noting how warm it was. "Rest well, buddy." He turned on his heel towards the window so he could turn the air conditioner down a little- not too much- but a bit.

Then he made his way downstairs to grab a towel. But something caught his eye, a small brown notebook. This one had to be a new one he guessed as it didn't seem familiar to him. He shrugged it off at first Tails had probably left it there last night on accident.

Walking over to the cabinet, Sonic pulled out a brown towel and wet it with cold water. He rung it out, so it didn't drip all over the floor. Then Sonic zipped back upstairs and into Tails' room- quietly. Sonic found that his fur was dripping with sweat. He sighed and placed the towel on his forehead under his bangs.

"Feel better soon, little buddy."

Walking out of the room, Sonic made his way downstairs and into Tails' workshop on the search for a little green notebook. Tails had a notebook addiction, so finding it was a nightmare. He looked through a couple of- organized- drawers, shelves, and a compartment in the Tornado but then he eventually found it just sitting on his desk. He mentally slapped himself as he picked it up, flipping through its pages a number at a time. He finally stopped when he found the last page with writing on it.

**July 14**

**Go to Amy's for mission meeting.**

**Work on Robot Communication Translator for the mission.**

**^ Figure out a new code name for it.**

"That plan failed." Sonic grabbed a pen and crossed out the meeting part of the list- figuring he could at least do something for Tails. Putting the little notebook down, he walked into the kitchen, deciding since he couldn't help Tails with anything he'd sit back and wait for him to wake up. So, he raided the fridge. Snacking on some chili dogs while he waited for Tails to wake up, something caught his eye.

He looked at the other notebook that was sitting at the table which he had presumed to be new. However, it was already almost filled. He glanced at the open page, yesterday's date at the top, and a folded paper sitting on top of it.

Curious he unfolded it, Sonic discovered it to be some blueprints. He folded it back up and glanced at the notebook, a rough sketch of the invention was on it with notes surrounding it. Sonic picked it up reluctantly, wondering if he was invading Tails' privacy. He then decided if it was private, Tails have hidden it instead of leaving it out in the open.

Sonic flipped through the notebook finding it had one purpose, the production of the Robot Transmission or something. There were entries every day for the past two weeks, pages a day.

Sonic sighed. "You always did overwork yourself."

He made his way back upstairs and pushed the door open to Tails' room, causing a bit of a squeak. Sonic cringed at its nails-on-a-chalkboard sound as he closed it.

He then glanced over to Tails as his eyes sluggishly opened. He let out a harsh cough and shut his eyes again, then opened them.

"Sonic?" he mumbled. His voice was weak and hoarse. Sonic's smile faltered, not seeing the lively child-like innocence in Tails' eyes was a bit of a wake-up call having never dealt with more than a cough.

"Hey, buddy," Sonic replied. He sat on the foot of Tails' bed looking down at the kit. "It's me."

Tails shut his eyes again, tensing up for some reason. "I'm sorry." He turned his head to the side as if trying to hide from Sonic. The towel slides down a little.

"Why are you apologizing? You're sick, nothing you can do about that."

"I should have just stayed home."

"I'll give you that one, but it all worked out in the end, right?"

He didn't respond. Sonic wiped a few stray tears away. He wasn't sure why they were there, but he blamed his sickness.

"Tails, look at me." He bit his lip. "Tails?" Sonic blinked dumbly as Tails burst into tears rolling completely over onto his side.

He jumped to his feet. "H-Hey. What's wrong?"

"I keep screwing up!"

"That's not true, and you know it."

"Yes, it is!"

"How?"

Tails turned back over, staring at the ceiling. "Our meeting today-"

"Okay, Tails. Literally, none of us wanted to be there. Did you see Rouge and Knuckles?"

"Our upcoming mission." He closed his eyes again. "We're just waiting on me."

Sonic sat back down next to Tails trying to make eye contact with the kit. "Tails, look at me. You get yourself so overworked for no reason. And you're the only person you'd ever talk badly about. There's gonna be enough people to knock you down you know that. Don't add yourself to the list. Nobody's expecting you to be done anytime soon, cut yourself some slack you're a kid for Chaos sakes."

Tails looked away, wiping some of his tears. "I'm just so scared of letting you guys down."

"You won't."

"But-"

"There's no but about it, you won't let us down. Even if you can't make this thing work, the fact you tried is enough. But at the extent of your health, Tails? How much sleep have you gotten lately?"

"I don't know," he murmured.

"Exactly, take a break."

"But-"

"You're sick. You're not leaving this bed until your fever breaks. Unless you're going to the bathroom, but that's a different story," he joked.

Tails sighed in defeat far too tired to put up a fight. Sonic stood up. "And I don't know how you being sick turned into some deep conversation, but we're going to roll with it." Tails chuckled wiping his tears away. "I'm going down to the store to get you some medicine. I'll be back in a minute. Then you're gonna take it and get some sleep, okay?"

Tails nodded, and Sonic made his way out of the room before turning back at the sound of Tails' voice.

"Don't say it," he mumbled.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Tails countered. His voice was weak, and Sonic made a mental note to grab him some water.

"If it was some apology for bothering me then yeah, I do," he replied, leaning on the door frame. Tails looked away, proving Sonic's claim right. "Alright. Now I'm going to get this stupid medicine." Tails lightly chuckled as Sonic walked out the door. "Love you, little bro!" With that, Sonic zipped out of the house. Tails smiled rolling over onto his side.

"I love you too."

He shut his eyes, exhausted. Regardless that he wasn't exactly 100% convinced he wasn't at fault a smile danced across his lips, knowing nobody was mad at him. He drifted off to sleep quickly, and when Sonic returned, he shook his head playfully.

"Oh, boy. If he's this complicated at 8, I can only imagine what he's gonna like as a teenager." He shut the door, deciding sleep was more important than giving him his medicine and getting carried on with another long conversation. He'd give it to him later. Nonetheless, all he could hope for was Tails to recover quickly.


End file.
